World Briefing: September 4, 2024

Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has submitted his resignation, the parliamentary speaker says. He’s one of the most respected and longest serving ministers in the government and an experienced diplomat. There’s long-since been reports that the ministry has faced deep budget cuts and had been sidelined by Zelensky administration. Previously, Kuleba has said: "I said at the very beginning that I would leave under two circumstances: the first is if the president asks me to do it. The second is if I get into some fundamental contradiction with foreign policy and don’t consider it possible to work with it.” His resignation will be discussed by lawmakers at their next session, parliamentary Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk said on his Facebook page. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy indicated that a Cabinet reshuffle was imminent last week as he tries to strengthen the government 2½ years into the war, AP reported.

Watch the Global Impact pre-war interview with Minister Kuleba here: https://youtu.be/kgSJXGpKt60?si=A9pDu89aetg9Qru8

Seven people are dead - including three children - from a rare Russian missile and drone attack on the western Ukraine city of Lviv. At least 38 have been injured. Therese’s significant damage to apartment buildings, including in the historic area, the mayor says. Schools were damaged too and rocket fragments were reported to have fallen on the grounds of the closed international airport. In Krivij Rukh, five people were injured in a strike on a hotel and nearby residential buildings. The early morning attacks came less than 24 hours after Poltava in the east of the country was struck by ballistic missiles, killing more than 50.

Ukraine’s energy chief has been improperly ousted for “politically motivated” reasons, according to the company’s two foreign directors, in a move that has heightened fears over the country’s besieged electricity grid. Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, who had led Ukrenergo since 2020, was a respected figure in the energy industry whose sudden departure has been sharply criticised by senior MPs and analysts for putting the electricity network’s resilience at risk. Two board members resigned on Tuesday over his sacking, in a sign of potential unease among Kyiv’s allies. Peder Andreasen and Daniel Dobbeni were both former presidents of the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity. “We felt political pressure and observed constant attempts to bypass the competition to appoint people,” said Andreasen and Dobbeni in a statement. “We do not see the possibility of continuing our work,” they said. “Violating the principles of corporate governance and making a decision to dismiss its manager without proof of improper management is unacceptable.” Kudrytskyi said on Tuesday that there had been a “campaign to discredit Ukrenergo” and it was important that his successor was chosen in a transparent way so that the company would “not become a generator of cash flows” for corruption. Lawmakers and analysts have interpreted the dismissal of Kudrytskyi as an attempt to centralise power by Kyiv’s presidential administration, threatening the country’s ability to generate power in the face of Russian attacks as winter looms. - FT

At least 12 people have died and dozens have been rescued after the boat they were travelling in capsized during an attempted crossing of the English Channel, authorities say. Rescuers pulled a total of 65 people from the English Channel on Tuesday in a search that lasted more than four hours, according to Etienne Baggio, a spokesman for the French agency that oversees the stretch of sea where the boat ripped apart. Doctors confirmed 12 died, he said. Another 12 people were admitted to hospital, and two were in very serious conditions, authorities said - Al Jazeera

A former aide to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo was charged with acting as an agent for the Chinese government, US Attorney Breon Peace announced Tuesday. Linda Sun, a former deputy chief of staff to Hochul and Cuomo aide, was charged with violating and conspiring to violate the Foreign Agents Registrations Act, visa fraud, alien smuggling and money laundering conspiracy, according to an unsealed copy of the indictment. Her husband and co-defendant, Chris Hu, was also charged with money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to commit bank fraud as well as misusing means of identification, prosecutors said. - CNN

Some 200 middle schools in France began testing a "digital break" this week — a complete ban on mobile phones in the classroom. The aim is to reduce screen time and combat cyberbullying, a move welcomed by both school staff and students. If the trial proves successful, the ban will be implemented in all schools starting January 2025. At Claudine Hermann Middle School in the southern suburbs of Paris, students start their mornings by handing in their mobile phones. “It gets students used to being without their phones all day and teaching them to live differently even during recess instead of always being on their phones," said Fabien Leroux, a school supervisor. The mobile phones are stored in five heavy-duty briefcases throughout the school day. The middle school invested in these briefcases, costing €300 in total, with all expenses covered out of pocket. The state does not contribute to funding this test ban, leaving the financial burden to the country's departments responsible for funding middle schools, some of which consider it too heavy. - Euronews

Elton John is healing after a health scare that left him partially blind, he told fans on Tuesday. In a statement posted to Instagram, the 77-year-old singer-songwriter explained that he’d spent the summer battling “a severe eye infection.” He did not say how he contracted it or share further details about the infection, but added that he’d been left “with only limited vision in one eye. - Daily Beast

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